Trump cancels delegation’s trip to Davos amid shutdown

The White House on Thursday scrapped a scheduled trip by several Cabinet officials to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, citing the partial government shutdown.

The decision comes after President Trump upped the stakes in the shutdown standoff with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) by nixing her planned trip to Afghanistan.

“Out of consideration for the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay and to ensure his team can assist as needed, President Trump has canceled his delegation’s trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.{mosads}

Trump last week cancelled his own visit to the annual gathering of world leaders and financial titans because of what he called “the Democrats intransigence on Border Security.”

The White House on Tuesday announced it would send a scaled-back delegation to the forum, which runs from Jan. 22-25.

The White House had announced on Tuesday a scaled-back delegation for the gathering of political leaders and global elites, which runs from Jan. 22-25.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was set to lead the team, joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and deputy chief of staff Chris Liddell.

Trump had come under pressure to cancel or further pare back his administration’s Davos visit after he refused to provide military transportation for Pelosi’s congressional delegation, which was set to meet with NATO commanders in Brussels and U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) earlier Thursday questioned why the Speaker’s trip was canceled, while a group of administration officials had still been scheduled to visit Davos next week.

“The president’s concern about [a trip] into a war zone apparently doesn’t apply to a delegation from the administration going to Davos the following week. Because we got confirmation that is still planned,” he said.

Mike Lillis contributed.